Nuts & Bolts Question - Opinions Needed

Sunny

This question is for those of you in mfg. or others who use time clocks. I apologize in advance for the length, but before we invest in a new and expensive time clock that doesn't work I really need input based on some understanding of how we work.

We have an old-fashioned mechanical time clock system which works really well for our needs. However, we have 180+/- time clock users in two plants 8 - 10 miles apart (depends which route you take)in the payroll group. Our corporate parent recently outsourced payroll to Ceridian. According to Corporate Payroll (don't ask why we have both) we must have our payroll into Ceridian by 9:00 AM Monday morning. The payroll clerk has to figure all the cards (we have lead pay, out-of-class work, training hrs, etc.), then key them into our divisional headquarters' middleware. Can't be done by Monday morning. We have been pulling the cards Friday morning after clock in; she then keys them in on Friday, makes adjustments Monday morning and transmits. Obviously this can't continue (DOL problems, wrong paychecks, etc.). Does anyone have an automated system that they can recommend? Or conversely, is there any system I should avoid? We currently have two shifts, used to have three and may again if business picks up, and some variable starting times.

Thanks for your help.

Whatever

We use ADP's e-time plus their check writing services. Went through a lot of aggravation in the beginning to get the programming right. But now it works very well.

LindaS

We use a swipe card system that downloads into our computer network. The supervisors are responsible for checking the clocking on their employees on a daily basis (must be done before they leave at night and typically takes about 10-15 minutes). The following morning the Production Secretary verifies the clockings as well as makes any adjustments regarding transfer pay, etc. - this usually takes about 15 minutes. On Mondays it is downloaded by the payroll person and all she has to do is enter any deduction adjustments and sends it to ADP. Works well for us and we have about 100 employees on the system.

scottorr

At one of my old jobs, we used to use Kronos and that fed directly into our ADP payroll system. We had about 200 employees using this system. All of the others entered time sheets. All adjustments were made Monday mornings.

cebudragonlady

We use Time Centre bar-code swiping for timecards. Time sheets are printed every day for the Plant Supervisor to review and sign off every day . I enter the hours into an excel spreadsheet every day to build up the payroll. On the last day of the two week work period, payroll is entered into Paychex and transmitted. This sytem works very smoothly. For 26 employees, takes about two hours a week max for me and the supervisor.

The DAILY tasks are the key to keeping adjustments to an absolute minimum.

Chari

NancyJ

9:00 AM Monday is pretty harsh!

We use Lathem time at a few of our offices, credit card-type swipe cards, downloads right to a PC, and can interface with a lot of programs(although we are still in the stone age and hand-keying it all into Paychex).

I suggest downloading the payroll and balancing (through Thursday) on Fridays. Then, Monday morning only 1 day has to be done (early, though!).

My sympathies....

Sunny

Thanks everyone for the help. It looks like Corporate is going to mandate Kronos. We'll just have to roll with it.

Sunny

LFernandes

We use the E-Time Heavy (there is E-time light but that is really for employers with less hourly people) timecard system with a handpunch (no more lost or cards that don't work) with ADP Payroll software. We have a split shift and I have it set to automatically pull the punches twice daily. All I need to do is just go in and adjust any missed punches or add hours (vacation, sick, personal time, etc.). I have about 70 employees enrolled in the system.

It works pretty well. Occassionally a punch doesn't register. Once the punches have been collected, you have the ability to e-mail the punch report directly to the supervisor in .txt format.

LFernandes